Press Releases

Rockets and Mortars Hit Southern Israel

- September 02, 2012

Jerusalem, Sep. 2 – Palestinian terrorists in Gaza fired two rockets and a mortar shell Sunday as attacks on Israeli civilian areas continued on an almost daily basis.

The blasts on Sunday missed their targets; however a rocket hit a house in the town of Sderot on Friday, causing damage. The family had managed to reach the safe room in their home within 15 seconds, the maximum time residents have to find safety when the alert sirens sound to warn that radar has detecting a rocket attack.

At least 14 rockets and mortars have been fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza in the past week, bringing to 549 the number of deadly projectiles fired so far this year. In the past seven years attacks from Gaza have killed at least 44 people and wounded hundreds more. At the current pace the total number of rockets and mortars by the end of 2012 will exceed the 653 weapons fired at Israel from Gaza in 2011.

The Iran-backed Hamas group is recognized as a terrorist organization. Its official policies include a total rejection of the peace process and a commitment to waging war to destroy Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been paralyzed, in large part due to the split between the mainstream Fatah party that controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in a bloody 2006 military coup.

Israeli leaders have called for Palestinians to respond positively to the repeated attempts by the international community to restart peace talks without pre-conditions.